Guccio Gucci: A Savoy Bellhop, Bamboo Handles and a Family at War

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Guccio Gucci was born in Florence in 1881 and by 1897 was carrying luggage at London's Savoy Hotel, studying how wealthy guests dressed and traveled. He later spent four years with the Wagons-Lits sleeper train company and worked for Milan luggage maker Franzi before opening his own shop on Via della Vigna Nuova in Florence in 1921, soon employing 60 artisans. When League of Nations sanctions after Italy's 1935 invasion of Ethiopia cut off leather imports, he turned to hemp, linen, jute and raffia woven in a diamond pattern, and wartime shortages led to canvas marked with the double G and red and green bands. In 1947 came the bamboo handle bag, its Japanese cane bent by hand with a blowtorch and scorched over a flame.

Guccio died in 1953, weeks after a New York store opened, leaving the company to sons Aldo, Vasco and Rodolfo. Aldo expanded to London, Paris, Tokyo and Beverly Hills, but licensing deals put the logo on everything from keychains to an AMC Hornet station wagon. After Rodolfo died in 1983, his son Maurizio fought Aldo for control, and Aldo, at 81, was sentenced in 1986 to a year in US federal prison for tax evasion in a case led by Rudy Giuliani. Maurizio cut licensing but overspent, sold his remaining stake to Bahrain's Investcorp in 1993, and in March 1995 was shot dead in Milan by a hitman hired by his ex-wife Patrizia Reggiani, who served 16 years. Dawn Mello and Tom Ford then revived the brand, which ended up with François Pinault's group, now Kering.

• A floral silk scarf was designed for Grace Kelly, and a hobo bag was renamed the Jackie after Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
• John F. Kennedy reportedly called Aldo the first Italian ambassador to the United States.
• Aldo's son Paolo tried to launch a rival offshoot brand, setting off a family legal battle.
• Dawn Mello cut the product range from more than 20,000 items to about 7,000 to restore scarcity.
• After fending off LVMH, the brand moved through designers Frida Giannini, Alessandro Michele and Sabato De Sarno.